New York State: Demographic Change, 200-2005

National Comparisons

  • Overall growth. New York is growing at a slower rate than the vast majority of the nation (1.3% v 5% national average)
  • Whites: New York state’s white population is in decline. While the national average indicates a slight increase in the number of whites (1.3%), New York state is experiencing similar trends to other states with larger minority populations in the midWest, East, and California.
  • Latinos: While the number of Latinos in New York by nearly 211,000, it’s rate of growth was one third of the national average.
  • Blacks: While the overall Black population in New York is stagnant (-0.1%), New York is the only state in addition to the District of Columbia to experience a net loss in the number of Blacks.
  • API. New York added nearly 165,000 APIs between 2000 and 2005. This represents a 13% growth compared to 18.5% nationwide. New York is second to California in the number and numerical growth of APIs.
  • American Indian. The growth in the number of American Indians is significantly slower than the rest of the nation. (.8 v. 6.1%)
  • Multiracial: New York boasts the third largest number of multiracial individuals (California #1, Hawaii #2).

Regional Summaries

  • Total Pop. Change. Upstate and Downstate New York increased their total population slightly, while Western New York experienced a slight decline (1.2%, 1.9%, -0.9% respectively)
  • Whites: In all regions of the state, the number of whites declined slightly.

(-1.9%Western, -1.5% Downstate, -.1% Upstate)

  • Latinos: The number of Latinos has increased 7.3% across the state. Upstate New York experienced a growth in Latinos at twice the rate (14.1%) of the rest of the state.
  • Blacks: While the number of Blacks in Downstate New York slightly declined, Western New York experience moderate growth and Upstate New York experienced significant growth (6.6%, over 11,000).
  • API: Asian Pacific Islanders experienced the largest increase of any racial group and all regions of the state. The number of API’s in Upstate New York grew by nearly 165,000—18 counties in this region experienced a 25% or more increase in the number of API.
  • American Indian. While the number of American Indians remained flat in Downstate and Western New York, their numbers increased by 870 (6.5% increase) in Up State New York.
  • Multiracial. New York is becoming increasingly multiracial. While Downstate New York had the largest increase in the number of multiracial individuals, Upstate New York had the largest growth

Source: Applied Research Center Tabulation of U.S. Census Population Estimates. August 14, 2006